|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
"'But bless your hearts and eyebrows, all this sort of thing was
nothing to my uncle! He was so well seasoned, that it was mere
child's play. I have heard him say that he could see the Dundee
people out, any day, and walk home afterwards without staggering;
and yet the Dundee people have as strong heads and as
strong punch, gentlemen, as you are likely to meet with, between
the poles. I have heard of a Glasgow man and a Dundee man
drinking against each other for fifteen hours at a sitting. They
were both suffocated, as nearly as could be ascertained, at the
same moment, but with this trifling exception, gentlemen, they
were not a bit the worse for it."
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Suffocate \Suf"fo*cate\, a. [L. suffocatus, p. p. of suffocare
to choke; sub under + fauces the throat. Cf. Faucal.]
Suffocated; choked. --Shak.
Suffocate \Suf"fo*cate\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Suffocated; p.
pr. & vb. n. Suffocating.]
1. To choke or kill by stopping respiration; to stifle; to
smother.
Let not hemp his windpipe suffocate. --Shak.
2. To destroy; to extinguish; as, to suffocate fire.
Suffocate \Suf"fo*cate\, v. i.
To become choked, stifled, or smothered. ``A swelling
discontent is apt to suffocate and strangle without
passage.'' --collier.
Which definition fits the passage quoted? Or is this an outrageous bit of irony?
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
It's a somewhat suffocating passage in that it suffocates logic.
The way I read it is that the Dundee and Glasgow men drink for fifteen hours--and that they pass out at the same instant, but that they are non-the-worse for having done so. Drinking for so long would kill a normal mortal--at least drinking this strong drink of which they are capable drinking. But not this man from Dundee and the one from Glasgow.
So, I'd choose the second set of definitions since neither man literally died, but, instead, passed out or was extinguised, to speak figuratively. I find it a clever use of the verb to suffocate since liquid, as might be expected, was the extinguishing (second definition of suffocate) agent. And I suppose the fire that was being extinguished was the desire for alcohol!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear WW: Speaking of endurance drinking, I remember being
told about a bar in Northampton,MA, which had a trough just beyond patrons' knees as they sat at the bar so they could
urinate without having to lose their place at the bar by going to a restroom.
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 6,296 |
Oh, that is just sooooo disgusting, wwh! You men!!!
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 13,858 |
Dear WW: You're just jealous. Remember the story about the
little girl at a picnic, who saw a little boy piddling, and exclaimed:'What a handy thing to bring to a picnic!'
|
|
|
|
|
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
|
|
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
heh. reminds me of the pissing troughs at Fenway Park in Boston. not quite sure how I felt about those. shouldn't be a problem, but there was something barbaric about it...
formerly known as etaoin...
|
|
|
|
Forums16
Topics13,913
Posts229,412
Members9,182
| |
Most Online3,341
Dec 9th, 2011
|
|
|
0 members (),
927
guests, and
4
robots. |
|
Key:
Admin,
Global Mod,
Mod
|
|
|
|
